Dont mess with a lane rope

Oh dear, how could I forget the swimming story!! Thanks mom!!


Well, 2 or 3 weeks ago, we had a swimming gala held at our centre. One of the schools who use our pool for their swimming lessons had booked the large pool for a few hours, to have their school gala. So as lifeguards, we had a few things to set up for this event.

Everything had been running smoothly, we had done everything we needed to do, just needed to put one last lane rope in the middle of the pool. All the kiddies were there sitting on the poolside, all the parents sitting on the balcony chairs, the timers and announcers waiting and setting up last minute things....and me, and my manager Nicole, finishing things off with the last lane rope. So she is at the deep end, im at the shallow end, both holding a side of the lane rope..and pulling it across, a task i have done many times before without problems.

Its quite heavy, and takes a fair amount of pulling...so we both pull in turn, slowly moving it along the water, to the middle of the pool....when Nicole pulled a bit too much from her side. Well you can guess what happened, I fell in wearing my trousers, trainers, undershirt and golf shirt as well as having my radio in my pocket. The worst bit, was as I landed in the water, i just heard an explosion of laughter! I tried to stand up, but my trainers were slipping on the bottom of the pool. Eventually I got on my feet and looked towards my manager laughing, her mouth was on the floor, she couldnt believe what had just happened. I hooked the lane rope in, swam over the the steps and climbed out, still being deafened by the laughs from everyone.

She came over to me and kept saying she was sorry, but I was laughing so much and said not to worry, she gave me a while off the pool to go get changed, luckily I had shorts and my flip flops in my locker, so was able to put those on, and just wear my work fleece jumper on my top half.


My manager STILL feels bad to this day, but it really was so funny. After I was changed, and back on poolside, watching the gala...I had many parents and teachers asking me if I wanted another swim, or If i do that often, etc etc. Too funny!


Giggling like mad thinking about it now...

My Snowy Easter

OMG!!! (Oh My Goodness-for those who dont know) IT SNOWED TODAY!!!!


This week has been very busy, worked early shifts all week, including Good Friday and today, although today I was sent home sick at 11 30am. Its been very chilly the last few days, this morning in particular, extremely cold.....that I had to wear 4 layers!! Yeah, thats not like me at all, is it!! Since January, its been predicted to snow in London 3 times....and on 2 occasions I got my hopes up....and nothing came. So when they predicted snow for the Easter weekend, I was like yeah whatever and didnt think anything of it. Well, on my way home from work on the train, I noticed that it had started lightly snowing, just as I was approaching my station. I couldnt believe it, managed to send a text about it, but no sooner had the text been sent, it had stopped. I thought, you must be kidding me....that better not be it!


I got home, and was just chilling and lying in bed, still feeling nauseas, when I saw out my window it was falling again, this time, alot more. Not really snow as such, just lil icy balls, lots of them......but hey, its the closest thing to snow I'l get, so im calling it snow. That lasted about 5 minutes, then it stopped again. And once again about 30 minutes later, it happened again. This time was a whole lot more, and I leant outside my window, snapping pics of this. I decided I could not pass up the opportunity to go walk in it, so I went to the store just around the corner, and took some pics outside. It was great! So pretty!


I got back home, and inside, hands frozen and got up to my room. Put my food down and looked outside again, and this time, snow was falling, real snow flakes.....so I now can say, it did snow in London today. That lasted about 10 minutes, then stopped and the sun came out, but it is still very icy cold outside. I have my window open of course, so thats how i know. HAHA.







I have a funny story to share, it happened a few weeks ago already, but haven't managed to write about it, although I told my parents and Grant, they said it was too funny not to share with everyone else. So here goes:



A few weeks ago, late one night while I was asleep, I dont even know the time anymore but we're talking like after midnight, I was woken up by my bed shaking and hearing the door rattling. This rattling is a familiar sound if I have my window open and dont put somethin under the door to stop the wind from making it rattle. But the bed shaking threw me...and I woke up thinking...damn, its windy! I lay in bed a bit puzzled and thought, nooo, wind cant make my bed shake like that, maybe i was dreaming and shaking in my sleep or something....so...i decide, best way to test that theory is to try re-create the shaking. So, i started shaking myself while lying in bed, to try get the same feeling I had experienced minutes before. It didnt work, it wasnt the same. Me shaking myself, didnt make the headboard rattle like it did the time when i was woken up....I just thought oh well and went back to sleep, forgetting all about it the next day at work....untill....I was on the tube on the way home, when I read int he newspaper about an earthquake in the UK, and that tremors had been felt last night in London. I was like OMG thats wot it was!!!!! Couldnt beleive it...scary!!

On a general note, work is going well still, we have 4 new lifeguards and are still getting 1 or 2 more, as a few left in the last few weeks. They all seem nice, one young sweet guy, one weird crazy guy, one overly shy guy, and one of the swimming teachers who works at our centre already, with the swimming company. They fit in well, and we have them off to a good start, by picking up the good habits, and not the bad. Well, thats because, the bad habits left with those lifeguard that left, sorry to say. Its always just a few people who dont care about rules and regulations and make things difficult for others. But there are gone now, so things are alot better. The General Manager (GM) has commented on many occasions on the improved standard of lifeguarding and has commended me on being the person that has achieved this. In our full staff meeting 2 weeks ago, I was awarded a bottle of wine as a thanks and a well done, for my standards and committment. I felt really pleased and proud of myself. Its really a great place to work, and that enthusiasm and passion for the people and the job shows in the things I do within the centre.

I cannot wait for April to come, 4 weeks untill I come to SA....wooooooohoooooooooooooo!!!!!!
I have 3 weeks off work, so lots of time to spend with family and friends!! And of course, to just chill out at home and enjoy all those things I (wrongly) thought I could go without.

I have FINALLY got photos I took from the last few months off of my mobile, I wasnt able to before but finally got them off, so i put them in a new slide show. Have a look...

Best be going now, gonna eat the rest of my pooh bear easter bear I got from Bart :)

Happy Easter to everyone, I hope you all have a great day!

Oh and lastly, SEE YOU SOON!!! (It sure does feel great to say that)